Ethics Vs Utilitarianism In Nursing

Nurses are faced with ethical dilemmas related to clinical issues, and disease and treatment decisions daily (Kangasniemi,

Ethics can be defined in several ways into today’s society, particularly among the younger, fluid, more open-minded generation. Ethics is the the study of moral conducts and beliefs, to ensure that we as a human race uphold the standards of right and wrong. What is the difference between good and bad? What makes elements in a situation right or wrong? There is not one unconditional way to describe ethics in various scenarios.

Introduction In Bed Number Ten by Sue Baier and Mary Schomaker, the theme was about how showing compassion can help someone through a difficult time. The story was in the perspective of Sue Baier, who was a patient diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome. She wrote, with incredible detail, about the interactions she had with the healthcare professionals that took care of her. Each member had different interactions when they took care of Mrs. Baier, both positive and negative interactions.

When faced with an ethical problem or issue in any career affecting societal concerns, I would use moral reasoning and the knowledge about ethical principles I learned in my assignments and courses to make an informed and moral decision when presented with an issue. In my courses at Ashford, I learned a great deal about ethics in the SOC 120: Introduction to Ethics and Social Responsibility course. From the academic knowledge I’ve gained through this course, I am able to apply the four ethical principles, autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice, as guidelines when faced with clinical decisions working in the medical field. In SOC 120, I was able to learn and research how ethics applies to healthcare, health professionals, and hospitals, which is essential for my career in health informatics, and as a pharmacy

Utilitarianism and Deontology are two major ethical theories that influence nursing practice. Utilitarian principles of promoting the greatest good for the greatest amount of people parallels the nursing tenet of beneficence. Deontological principles of treating individuals with dignity, and promoting the well-being of the individual parallels the nursing tenet of non-maleficence. Utilitarian and Deontological principles can be utilized to resolve ethical dilemmas that arise in the nursing profession. The purpose of this paper is to define utilitarianism and deontology, discuss the similarities and differences between the two, and to address an ethical dilemma utilizing utilitarian and deontological principles.

All in all this is a tough decision, especially for the nurses because they are faced with ethical dilemmas on a daily basis and it’s hard to make the right decision while trying to advocate for the patient at the same time. (Poikkeus

Ethical Issues in Healthcare There are many ethical issues facing health care at any time and it is impossible to say definitively which is the most pressing or the most important. Health care professionals are expected to base their practice on a set of ethical principles, including truthfulness, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and confidentiality. Ethical issues can arise, however, when a l professional is called upon to act in opposition to personal values or in cases where the values of patient, health care worker, and sponsoring institution conflict. The following issues are presented in no order. Neonatal Ethics Neonates are babies within their first twenty-eight days of life.

The word, ‘ethics’ coming from the Gk word, ‘ethos, ' means custom or behavior. Since the time of Aristotle, who originally proposed the concept of ethics and ‘ethical theory’ – dealing with the study of human behavior, ethics plays a major role in Western Philosophy when social and individual values are in debate. Today, ‘ethics’ means moral which arises from the Latin word, ‘more, ' meaning custom and behavior likewise. Moralists like Nietzsche, Santayana, and Russell claim ethical values as personal deliberations rather than general perception. But John Ziman, former chairman of the Council for Science and Society, interprets ethics as a way of dealing with different opinions forming when traditional values are faced with new realities.

According to Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary, "Ethic" means "moral principles that control or influence a person's behavior" (Hornby, 2005, p. 427). Velasquez et al. (2009) have described ethics as standards of behavior that tell us how human

“Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.” -Potter Stewart Ethics is about what is useful for people and society and is additionally depicted as good logic. The term is gotten from the Greek word ‘ethos’ which can mean custom, propensity, character or air. Ethical convictions shape the way we live – what we do, what we make and the world we make through our decisions.

The practice of health care includes many scenarios that have to do with making adequate decisions when it comes to a patient’s life, and the way they are treated. Having an ethical code in all health care organizations is very important, because it helps health care workers with reaching a suited and ethical decision when it comes to the patient. In health care, patient will always be put first, and their autonomy will always be respected. Nevertheless, when there is a situation where a patient might be in harm, or might be making their condition worse because of the decisions they made. Health care workers will always be there to

The ethical principle that would apply to my ethical problem is privacy and confidentiality. Privacy belongs to each person and, as such, it cannot be taken away from that person unless he/she wishes to share it. Confidentiality, on the other hand, means that the information shared with other persons will not be spread abroad and will be used only for the purposes intended (Silva and Ludwick, 1999). In many hospitals especially The Virgin Islands hospitals, this ethical code has been broken many times. As nurses we are supposed to protect our patients but, in this community, we fail to do so.

This assignment is a reflection of ethical dilemmas in nursing practice as a registered nurse; this paper is based on the group assignment which was completed for NURS3004. This reflection will include an explanation of the role that I portrayed in the group, the preparation that I did for the role, what could have been done differently, how this group assignment has impacted me in terms of working in a team and finally explain how this assignment will assist me in my future clinical practice as a newly registered nurse. The role that I played in the group was a patient who has a mental health disorder and I didn’t want his mother to know about the illness, as a front it seemed as though we had a close relationship. When my mother leaves the room I asked the nurse to keep my illness confidential as she does not really understand it.

A nurse must keep up to date on education and new processes in health-care, so they can provide the best care. As a nurse, you have promised to give each of your patients the best care that can possibly be given. Nurses must follow a code of ethics, to act safely, provide ethical care no matter how they feel about the patient or the reason they are in your care. Following this code of ethics shows your commitment to caring for people and society, it is a guide of ethics and standards to follow to keep everyone safe. Nursing is also a wonderful opportunity to meet hundreds of people from almost every nationality and every walk of life.

Patients who are violent towards hospital staff should be refused treatment Nurses should adopt the ethical principle of deontology and promote good, not harm. There is a binding duty for nurses based on morality. Moreover, there is a strong emphasis of the moral importance of cultivating virtuous character traits such as empathy and compassion in nurses. As virtue ethics are inculcated in medical and nursing students, they ought to have an ethic of care, without biasness, when carrying out treatment plan for all patients (Staunton & Chiarella, 2017). Hospital staff should embrace the ethical principle of beneficence - to actively do ‘good’ to all patients.